Stone Avenue: a bustling hub of traffic, new development, and murals? Have you noticed the flowery creation at 217 E. Stone Avenue? Great! Then you’re familiar with the Stone Mural Project.
A twelve-year project with the City of Greenville, Stone Academy of Communication Arts, and the Furman University Art Department May Experience class “Art and Community Engagement,” the Stone Mural Project is the mastermind of two wonderful people, Stephanie Burnette and Jean Wilson Freeman. I was fortunate enough to be involved last year through the Furman May X class and to manage the social media this year through the @stonemuralproject Instagram.
The important part is the art and the awareness in our Greenville community for public art and its purpose. The Stone Mural Project was created to bring that vibrancy to Stone Avenue and to Greenville in general. That’s why we work and celebrate with a mural every year to honor that purpose.
Fun facts about the Stone Mural Project:
It takes a team. From picking a wall to picking an artist to outlining to painting to promoting, the team is the backbone behind the finished product. Our lovely artist, Sunny Mullarkey McGowan, a local printmaker, created a beautiful Eastern Tiger Swallowtail Butterfly for us this year.
There are many details to an art project of this size: paintbrushes, paint cans, trailers, prints, etc. It was even more fun to photograph these because they highlighted the process behind the product.
The Stone Academy fifth grade classes came to paint with Sunny and the team also! Here they are at the ribbon cutting on the last day of the project. We loved celebrating with them and the Greenville friends who came to see our work.
My favorite part of the mural process is that the mural will live on Stone Avenue as a beacon to anyone who passes by. They can appreciate it, take photographs, share it with their friends, promote public art. We live in such a great place with this artistic potential.
Keep following along with the journey of the Stone Mural Project! Website updates coming soon.
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